Impact of herbicides on weeds, yield and yield attributing characters of kharif maize

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2015 at Agricultural Research Farm, TCA, Dholi, a campas of Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar to study the effect of different doses of pre-and post-emergence herbicides in tank mixture on complex weed flora, yield and yield components of kharif maize. Weed infestation caused 37.4% reduction in grain yield of maize. Maximum values of yield and yield attributing characters were recorded under weed free situation (hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS) (T₂) being statistically at par with atrazine @ 1.5 kg/ha pre-emergence fb halosulfuron @ 60 g/ha at 25 DAS post-emergence (T₇). However, the maximum weed control efficiency and minimum weed index were obtained with hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS. Among the different herbicidal treatments, application of atrazine @ 1.5 kg/ha as PE fb halosulfuran @ 60 g/ha was most effective against complex weed flora in kharif maize.